Startlist Le Samyn 2026 | Riders: Wout van Aert, Jordi Meeus, Christophe Laporte and more

After the 'Opening Weekend', the peloton will begin the semi-classic period in Belgium, consisting of many non-World Tour cobbled classics. The first of which is Le Samyn, a race with plenty history, notable winners, and with Wout van Aert at the start line this 3rd of March. We take a look at its startlist.

The event was first held in 1968 and has been a benchmark for classics specialists for decades, serving the Belgian crowd favourites many times. Since the start of the 21st century a lot of meaningful names have won here such as Magnus Bäckstedt, Robbie McEwen, Philippe Gilbert, Arnaud Démare, Niki Terpstra... It is a race that both suits the sprinters and classics specialists, an interesting dynamic, and so we have both types of riders in the palmarès.

This decade, every single edition has been won in a sprint - two of them from small groups however. Hugo Hofstetter, Tim Merlier, Matteo Trentin, Milan Menten and Laurenz Rex were all winners; whilst last year it was last-minute addition Mathieu van der Poel who opened his season here and took a victory over Paul Magnier.

Download the startlist in A4. Team Visma | Lease a Bike headline the race this year round with Wout van Aert at the start line followed by former European Champion Christophe Laporte, both big favourites. The World Tour is also represented with Alpecin-Premier Tech; Soudal - Quick-Step; NSN Cycling Team (Hugo Hofstetter); Groupama - FDJ United; Team Picnic PostNL; Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe (Jordi Meeus & Danny van Poppel) and Lotto-Intermarché.